Journalist sentenced to jail for defamation in Honduras

Honduran journalist
Julio Ernesto Alvarado was convicted on charges of criminal defamation on
December 9, 2013, according to local human rights groups. The Supreme Court of Justice sentenced the journalist, who hosts the news
program "Mi Nación" on Globo TV, to 16 months in prison on charges of damaging
the reputation of the rector of a local university.

The charges stemmed
from broadcasts on "Mi Nación" in 2006 that discussed the appointment of
Belinda Flores de Mendoza as dean of the economics school at the Autonomous
National University of Honduras (UNAH), according to the court ruling. The
broadcasts alleged irregularities in the granting of degrees while she was
in her previous position at the university. Flores filed a criminal defamation
suit against Alvarado, as well as against Carlos Gustavo Villela, a professor
at the university, and Guillermo Ayes, the head of the teachers' association at
UNAH, the ruling said.

While appearing as a
guest on Alvarado's show, Villela had denounced Flores' appointment to the
university. Ayes had written a press release questioning the dean's
appointment, which Alvarado had cited on the show, the ruling said.

A Tegucigalpa
court in 2011 found the three men innocent, but Flores appealed the decision
and the Supreme Court found Alvarado guilty, while upholding Villela and
Ayes' verdict. In the ruling, the court dismissed Alvarado's defense that he
had merely cited the opinions of others, and said that by voicing the
allegations he had damaged Flores' honor and reputation.

Alvarado
told CPJ in March 2014 that he was able to stay out of jail by paying a daily fine
of 10 lempiras (US 50 cents), but that the court could decide to implement part
of the ruling that would ban him from practicing his profession during the 16
months of his sentence. He told CPJ that his lawyer is looking into filing an
appeal.

Globo
TV and its sister radio station have frequently been targeted by authorities in
the past. In December 2013, Juan Carlos Argeñal Medina, the Globo correspondent
in the state of El Progreso, was murdered in unclear
circumstances. Globo was the target of serious attacks and multiple
broadcasting disruptions after reporting critically on the aftermath of
the 2009 military ouster of former President Manuel Zelaya.

For
more than a decade, courts and legislatures throughout the region have found
that civil remedies provide adequate redress in cases of alleged libel and
slander. But some governments in the Americas have continued to use archaic criminal defamation laws to silence
dissent.